Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness is a new exquisitly painted Tarot deck of 78 cards and extensively illustrated book by Barbara Bruch. This deck is an exploration of the symbolic relationships of Tarot to Astrology, the Qabbalah and Sacred Geometry. It is meant to inspire the seeker to create one's self-directed spiritual path.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

More on theThe Chariot

The Chariot: Wars and
Heroes

“…the hero is commonly the
simplest and obscurest of men”

Henry David Thoreau, “Walking”

In my previous
blog about The Chariot card, I wrote
about supernatural futuristic concepts and UFO’S as chariots of aliens, or symbols
of roundness signifying a desire for unity and wholeness in expressing concerns about various wars
taking place in the world, and the warriors who fight in them. It was more like Science Fiction where the heroes and heroines are Superman and Wonder Woman who fight the forces of evil. Then there is the fantasy some people have that heroic aliens will save us (you know, those little green men). This blog will be entirely different and more about getting in touch with the reality of today. In the Waite
Tarot deck, we see the victorious warrior riding in a victory parade – the hero
who has won the war. This homecoming warrior can be interpreted in several
ways: the literal combatant who succeeded in battle and won; or in another
interpretation, for some, it can be the celebration of a cosmic spiritual
warrior - of one who has achieved success in the daily attempt of living life
rightly. But the focus right now is on the meaning of war and what happens to those
who fight.

BOTA Deck

“The hero is America personified. The
heroic ego landed on Plymouth Rock; went with Daniel Boone into the wilds with
gun, Bible and dog; stands tall in Tombstone with John Wayne…”

James Hillman, The
Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling (Random House, 1996)

The 20th
century began with two devastating World Wars. And wars have continued with the
Korean War, the Viet Nam War, The Iraq War; the Bosnia/Herzegovina battle; the
Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, the Syrian crisis, and now the ongoing war in
the Middle East with ISIS. Beginning in 1914, World War I, and then World War
II of the 1940’s, resulted in the horrific destruction and devastation of land
and cities in most of Europe and Japan. In World War I, warring countries
brought about the collapse of the ruling monarchies of Germany, Russia, and the
Austria-Hungarian Empire and produced new more deadly forms of warfare:
chlorine gas, tanks, planes and bombs. In World War II, over 60 million people were
killed, including those murdered in the gas chambers of Nazi cult death camps. We
must recognize that World War II was different than all other wars. With the
development of bigger planes and rockets, it was possible to drop bombs and
firebombs on entire cities. Then in 1945, in the New Mexico desert, the USA
launched the possibility of the annihilation of the whole earth with the
development of the atomic bomb, which was dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, vaporizing over 200,000 of the occupants and
flattening the cities in an instant. We will never know the exact count. (As a small
child at that time, my family would gather around the radio to hear the latest
reports on the war amidst blackouts in Seattle, where the B-17 Bombers, and the
B-29’s that carried the Atom Bombs to Japan, were being built.) Looking
back on that time, one wonders what that was all about. In this so-called
civilized age, we must now come to grips with how enormous the threat of total
annihilation really is. We can’t continue to ride around on pink dream clouds
of wishful thinking about peaceful solutions anymore. Something has got to
change.

“For centuries, men have hoped that with history would come
progress, and with progress, peace. But progress has simply given man the means
to make war even more horrible; no wars in our savage past can begin to match
the brutality of the wars spawned in this century [20th Century] in
the beautifully ordered, civilized landscape of Europe, where everyone is
literate and classical music plays in every village cafe. War is not all
aberration; it is part of the family…the crazy uncle we try-in vain-to keep
locked in the basement.

“William
Broyles Jr. (Why Men Love War, Esquire, November, 1984)

“Victims of war and their
families aren’t supposed to interpret their losses for themselves,

they are supposed to leave
that to the flags, ribbons, medals, and three-gun salutes.”

Drafting young
men to fight in the Viet Nam war became a card-burning issue in the mid 1960’s.
The on-going anti-war movement began in earnest. Huge anti-war marches and
demonstrations occurred everywhere in the US. Young men are no longer drafted
today but still must register for the draft, never mind the fact that wars
continue. The warriors of the 90’s in “Desert Storm” and up to now, volunteer
their courage and bravery to do battle in the war-torn places of Iraq, Syria
and Afghanistan.This brings up the hard
question: What are we supposed to achieve in all this?

Heroes – What does it mean to go off
to battle to defeat the enemy; to give your life for your country? Every
soldier must consider this. In the past, heroes were honored for their bravery
and commitment to the “cause.” It was the “manly” thing to do. Those that died
are remembered on plaques and grave stones around the world.

“When a Roman Hero was honored in his
triumphal parade, a masked figure of Death stood at his shoulder in the
chariot, whispering in his ear, ‘Man, remember you are mortal’”

Barbara Walker, The
Secrets of the Tarot (HarperCollins, 1984)

What about the
“Cold War” of the 50’s and 60’s when the United States and Russia competed in
building huge nuclear arsenals? (The balance of terror) We lived under the
threat of nuclear annihilation from intercontinental ballistic missiles, particularly
during the “Cuban Crisis” when Russia was going to ship missiles to Cuba to
point at us. (Movies like “Dr. Strangelove”
typified that fear, Kubrick, 1964).Shortly after that time, we began to channel that fusion energy into
nuclear power plants to produce electricity. The United States also continued
to test at least 43 nuclear bombs on Eniwetok Island in the Marshall Islands
over ten years. Russia was doing the same. What happened to all that radioactivity
and nuclear waste dispersed in the atmosphere and oceans? Plutonium 329 lasts
for at least 24,000 years and other radioactive isotopes even longer.

“In the days before the first atomic bomb
was tested at Alamogordo, Enrico Fermi was said to have taken side bets on the
possibility that the whole state of New Mexico would be incinerated.” Susan Griffin, A
Chorus of Stones:The Private Life of
War (Anchor Books, 1993)

The
danger hasn’t ended.The potential of nuclear war still hangs
over us today with the North Korean leader beating his chest and threatening to
send nuclear missiles to the US and South Korea. And South Korea in turn is implementing
THAAD, a missile defense system and a nuclear submarine base on Jeju Island. And
now, because of further advancement in nuclear fission and the distribution of more
nuclear power plants, we must deal with something even more insidious –
radiation poisoning. The possible slow, silent, subversive death of the Pacific
Ocean and its creatures by the radiation continuing to spill out from the overwhelming
melt-down of three nuclear power plants at Fukushima Dai-ichi. There is no end
in sight once radiation has been released. The irreversibly damaged nuclear
power plant in Chernobyl has finally been covered by an enormous concrete tomb.
Will this last an eternity? We are talking about the future of the planet earth
here. Remember, nuclear power plants are the direct result of the nuclear
development and experiments of the 1940’s in New Mexico. What’s in store for
China and the nuclear power plants they are building?

Meanwhile, the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington (where uranium was processed
for atom bombs and making nuclear fuel rods) has been in the news recently with
eroding tunnels collapsing and radiation leaks. We now know that highly
radioactive train cars that delivered nuclear materials in the past, were
stored in those tunnels. This brings up the questions: What do we do with all
the nuclear waste, some of which lasts for an eternity, eh? (See article in Scientific
American, March 2016, “Fukushima today.” What are they doing with all those
bags of wastewater?) Do we have a choice in changing this prevarication?
Will we ever know the whole truth? Must we go on perpetuating war after war and
the threat of nuclear war? Everyone keeps talking about peace, but that has not
happened. Is this just a never-ending human condition?

What does this
tell you about the incredible dangers of what these scientists have created
with their experiments in nuclear fission? In the Discover Magazine, October 2014, in the article “Precision vs.
Profits,” Keith Epstein discusses proton beam therapy used in cancer treatment.
He points out that Robert Rathbun Wilson, one of the leaders in the Manhattan
Project where the atom bomb was developed in the 40’s, assuaged his guilt about
the bomb by applying his nuclear knowledge to the useful application of
medicine in the cyclotron, which was eventually used to treat cancer patients.

When you get The Chariot card in a reading, you can
interpret it in many ways, but keep in mind it’s significance in seeing the
bigger picture of things. Metaphorically, it is all about the pride of winning
and being acknowledged as a winner. This applies to everything we do. Do you
have the courage to fight on regardless of the obstacles you face? How do you
handle confrontation? Are you keeping up with the rapid pace of changing events
in your life? What are you doing to bring war to an end?

Contributors

Thumbs up! praise for TOCC

“WOW! Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness represents an intellectual and intuitive journey to the heart of Tarot. Barbara Bruch’s thorough research has led to a blending of insights from philosophical and mystical traditions that is profound and ultimately satisfying for anyone who wants to know how all the systems fit together. She has incorporated the element of “choice” and embraced the Tarot as a set of questions instead of a set of answers. And the cards! The art is simply awe-inspiring.”Gail Fairfield, author of Choice Centered Tarot

“It is a marvelous book – the thoughts within changed my life in incredible ways.”Marilyn Dickey, Educator

Tarot Art Deck -Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness

Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness

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Death, TOCC

Death, TOCC

A Reminder:

Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness cards and book are under copyright 2008. All rights reserved. No portion of the cards may be reproduced in any form, or by electonic, mechanical, or other means, without the written permission of the artist.